


Travel to you

by SweetBeet123



Series: Lil stories [4]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Sad Ending, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:40:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29605383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetBeet123/pseuds/SweetBeet123
Summary: Sapnap tries to find his fiancé since he disappeared while they had plans (again). He ends up finding a strange portal and answers to questions he never thought would ever be answered.Also, what is the In-Between and why is Karl so scared to go there?
Relationships: Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: Lil stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166150
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	Travel to you

Sapnap wiped the sweat off his forehead, groaning out loud. He had been walking around the server for over an hour now, but his fiancé was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t the first time Karl had just disappeared for a while, but today’s timing just wasn’t very good.

They had finally picked a moment to have their long awaited movie night. Sapnap had picked the date night this time. Quackity had begged for another karaoke night, but Sapnap wasn’t feeling like being loud tonight. He loved karaoke, but he never liked it when everyone would stare as they walked by.

And now, on the one night they could just relax together, Karl had vanished. Gone, without a trace. It was weird, honestly. One moment he’d be there and the next he’s nowhere to be found.

 _Maybe he’s in his library._ A quick thought flashed through Sapnap’s mind. Karl loved his library and he often spent hours in there, just reading away. He loved stories about the past and the future and if Sapnap didn’t know better he’d think Karl believed every story he read was real.

“Hey Jacobs, are you here?” Sapnap called out, opening the door to the library. “We’re having movie night, where the hell are you?” The library was completely empty, apart from a few books that laid open in the lecterns.

“Guess not,” Sapnap mumbled to himself. He let his eyes glide over the bookshelves. It really did look like a cosy library. Maybe one day he’d enjoy the words as much as his lover did. For now, he preferred being a warrior. Why read about stabbing stuff when you could just as easily do the stabbing yourself?

He stopped his own thoughts as he noticed something off about the room. One of the bookshelves seemed to be standing slightly askew. No, wait, that wasn’t it.  
He stepped further in the room to inspect the deviation. As he stepped closer, he realised that the bookshelf stood loose from the others, and it clearly had been moved.

Sapnap thought for a moment before grabbing the shelf with both hands, pulling on it. He was surprised when the entire bookcase moved with ease, revealing a second room.  
“What the hell?” Sapnap said out loud. He moved the bookcase even more, giving himself the space to slip through.

The room he appeared in was different from the rest of the library. On the walls hung posters of different times in both the past and the future. Some of the posters had Karl himself on them, perfectly positioned between the other characters, who were all dressed appropriately for their own time period.

Below the posters laid books, all perfectly positioned in item frames. Overall it looked like this room was well taken care of, without a single spot or thing out of place. There were still empty item frames, clearly waiting for their own poster and book.

“What is this place?” Sapnap wondered out loud. He was about to pick up the books when he realised the room didn’t end there. There was a ladder in the corner of the room, which led downstairs. Oh God, there’s more.

Sapnap climbed down the ladder, determined to figure out what was going on here once and for all. He was met with a dark cave, and though the tough warrior had been in the caves for countless of times, something was off about this one.

The entire cave reeked of blueberries and nettle, combined with a distinct smell of iron and sulphur. It was a strange smell, like nothing Sapnap had ever smelled before. A barely audible humming flowed through the dark cavern, similar to the hum of a nether portal, but not quite that.

As Sapnap ventured further down, both the smell and the humming got stronger. He turned a corner and was met with quite a sight.

In the middle of the cavern stood a large portal. It was different from your usual portal, though. It wasn’t a perfect rectangle, but it seemed to be dripping at some points. The swirling colours that made up the portal were different too. The usual plain purple was replaced by a swirl of pastel cyan and purple. Sapnap knew the swirl but all too well. It was the same swirl Karl wore on his hoodie.

After a moment of hesitation, Sapnap decided to step in the portal because

  1. He had stepped through portals a million times before
  2. There was no point in turning back now



Well, he was definitely wrong about his assumption about the first statement. The swirling of the portal made him feel woozy and he could feel nausea rise in his stomach. He leaned against a wall and panted, trying to regain himself. What on earth was that portal?

He couldn’t rest for long, though, for he suddenly realised where he was standing. This looked nothing like the nether. He was standing in something that looked like an ancient mineshaft. It was like the abandoned ones he’d seen so many times before, only less abandoned. Good God, where had this portal taken him?

* * *

“Let’s head to the shooting range!” Karl called out. He had finally gathered all the townsfolk and now he was ready to help them train so they could defeat the bandits that had taunted the town for so long.

He let his mind wander as he followed Sherman in the direction of the range. Tomorrow morning this would be over. He’d hopefully done good, maybe not die for once and head back home.

Though he missed home, he always tried his hardest not to think about it during his travels. He’d always be able to return home. He would never come back to this time period again. Soon, he’d be missing these people too, without the reassurance he’d see them again.

“Can I keep their heads? I’m hungry.” Karl was pulled from his thoughts by the sudden comment. Of course, it was Crops. You know, maybe he wouldn’t miss everything. Crops seemed like a cool dude, but it was kind of hard to ignore the constant cannibalism.

* * *

“Great shot!” Michael called out yet again, and Karl laughed. It wasn’t a great shot at all. It was clear John had never properly used a crossbow before. He went to stand behind the boy and helped him out, showing him how to properly hold the weapon and aim. He was just about to tell John to shoot when Percy called out.

“My god! What the hell is that?” Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction the banker was pointing.

“Oh my god, it’s a monster!” Michael called out.  
“Of course this happens when I’m only a week away from retirement,” Mason groaned, pulling out his crossbow.

“That’s not a monster,” Crops commented in a monotone voice. “It’s a person. He’s just wearing something that looks like it’s been enchanted.”  
“Witchcraft!” Michael shrieked.

Karl turned to look and felt his heart drop. In the middle of the street stood a very familiar figure, covered in enchanted netherite. No. No, no, no! Did he forget to close the portal or something? This was the worst part about his memory loss. It was bound to happen sometime, but it was still a punch to the gut.

“Karl? What is-“ Sapnap didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as Karl rushed towards him.  
“Take that armour off, idiot!” he hissed. “They’ll think you’re using dark magic or something!” Sapnap didn’t understand what he meant, but he quickly took off his netherite, stashing it in his inventory.

“It’s Mason!” Karl heard Sherman yell. “It’s that damn bandit in disguise!” Sapnap barely got out an ‘who now?’ before an arrow shot by his head.

“Wait!” Karl yelled. “Stop, this isn’t Mason! This is Sapnap, a good friend of mine!” Good friend, huh? Ouch.  
“Can you give us a moment?” Karl smiled awkwardly, before turning to Sapnap. “Come with me.”

* * *

Karl pulled Sapnap into John’s saloon, shutting the door behind them. Immediately, all quiet awkwardness washed away as the couple started yelling.

“What the hell are you doing here?”  
“What the hell am I doing here? Where the hell have you been? What was that portal?”  
“Why would you step through random portals? It’s _so_ obvious that wasn’t a regular one!”  
“Oh, I’m sorry for wanting to look for my fiancé WHO KEEPS GOING MISSING!”  
"That doesn’t mean you can go snooping through my stuff!”  
“Karl, I was worried! We-“  
“I’m doing this to protect you! My God, I don’t even know if I can get you out of here! You’ve never been to the In-Between before!”  
“The what now? Whatever, I don’t care. We were supposed to have a movie night tonight, and you’re just gone!”

Karl gasped in shock. He’d completely forgotten about the movie night. He didn’t have a choice when his travels would take place, but he usually made up an excuse when he knew he was missing something.

“Sap, I-“  
“No, you always do this! We plan something for the three of us and you come up with some shit excuse why you don’t want to go! And now that I actually go look for you, you’re playing dress-up with some people I’ve never seen in my life?”

Karl tried to stay calm, but his breathing had gotten very fast as he realised the corner he’d backed himself into. Sapnap had every right to be mad at him. He didn’t understand what was going on here, he didn’t know why it was so dangerous for him to be here.

He contemplated going along with it and make up a story about a roleplay game, but it wouldn’t make sense. Who would ever roleplay like that? He closed his eyes for a moment to prepare himself for what he was about to do. The truth had to come out.

“It’s not roleplay,” he mumbled. Sapnap was surprised at the sudden tone change.  
“What?”  
“Please let me finish. Don’t interrupt me, don’t laugh, and don’t call me a liar. I promise with my entire heart that whatever I’m about to tell you is the whole truth, and no lies.”  
“Alright?” Sapnap sounded a little hesitant, but he saw his lover was troubled, so he was willing to listen. We’ll see about believing.

“Alright,” Karl started. “This isn’t a roleplay. This isn’t a dress-up party, or a play. This is real. This is the actual wild west, a few hundred years ago. That portal you went through, it’s a time portal. Every 2-3 weeks, I have to go through it to a random time period. Wherever I travel to is of importance to our current timeline and period, and I have to make sure history goes well to prevent huge messes in the present. Sometimes I go to the future, too, to see the aftermath of our current lifestyle.” He stopped for a moment, thinking how he could properly explain the rest.

“I try to be careful,” he continued. “I try to make sure I don’t leave any traces, I try to make sure nothing goes wrong, but I can’t. Time travel affects my memory. I’m starting to forget things that happened, I forgot to close the portal, I’m starting to forget myself.”  
His voice started trembling. He tried to swallow a few times to keep his emotions from showing, but he couldn’t hold back the tears.

“Every day I read through my diary with pictures of you and Quackity,” he cried. “I’m so scared I’ll forget you guys, too. And I can’t do anything about it. This whole traveling thing isn’t my choice, it’s not in my power. I’m sorry for disappearing, but I can’t… stop. It’s my responsibility. Please don’t be mad at me. I don’t want that to be the last thing before I forget you.”

Tears were now flowing freely over his face. Karl harshly wiped them away. He didn’t want to cry. He wanted nothing more than to step up and give his fiancé a hug. There was no better feeling that feeling the other man’s arms wrap around him tightly, so that he could drown in the embrace. There was no place he felt safer. But he couldn’t. Not now.

Sapnap stood in front of his lover, his mind racing. Of all the explanations he expected, this one wasn’t even close to on the list. He’d always thought time travel was impossible. Part of him wanted to believe it was a lie, that Karl was making up dumb excuses to cover up his mistakes.

But when he looked around him, everything seemed a little bit too realistic for it to be a prop. The scratches on the bar, the traces of frequent use on the glasses, the rags that once were towels, the footprints on the floor. There’s no way Karl could afford this if it was fake.

“So, this is the past?” he finally asked. “As in, the actual past?”  
“Yeah.”  
“And these people, they were born here?”  
“Each and every one of them.”  
“Wow.”

It stayed quiet for a moment. Karl finally started to breathe again. He was still sad he didn’t get any physical comfort, but at least Sapnap hadn’t yelled at him. Not yet, at least.

“Is- Is there anything you want to ask me?” Karl hesitantly asked. If there was going to be a talk about this, he wanted it to be now. Maybe if this all went well, he could go back to the present without bringing it up again. He didn’t want his home to sting with the bitter taste of bad memories.

“Well yeah, obviously,” Sapnap answered. “A thousand at least.”  
“Go ahead.”  
“Erm, where do I start? How long has this been going on?”  
“About a few months.”

“How often have you been?”  
“This is my sixth time.”

  
“And nobody knows about this?”  
“Apart from you, no. I’m not supposed to.”

It stayed quiet for a bit longer. Sapnap thought a long time. What was he supposed to ask a time traveller?

“You mentioned something called the In-Between? What’s with that?” Karl gulped. The In-Between was his biggest secret. It held all the answers about everything, even the things he didn’t know himself. But if he wanted Sapnap to go back to the present, he didn’t really have a choice.

“I could tell you,” Karl started, “But it’s better if I show you. It’s a place in between times, a place of rest. Or at least, so I’m told. It’s supposed to hold answers about everything that I do. I love visiting different times, but it’s not as easy as that. I- whatever. Just come with me.”

He didn’t wait for an answer as he walked out of the saloon. That’s when he remembered the townsfolk. He looked in the direction of the shooting range and saw John running towards him.

“Karl! Karl!” he called out. “I hit the target! It was so close to a bulls-eye as well!”  
“Good job!” Karl complimented the younger man. “How’s the rest doing?”  
“Eh, Michael sucks and Crops is a little too good. It scared me, honestly.”

Karl turned around as Sapnap came outside, and John’s smile fell. Karl sighed deeply and looked back at John. He put his hands on the boy’s shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes.

“John, I’m sorry, but some urgent family matters have come up,” he lied. “I really have to go. I want you to know that I believe in you, and you can defeat those bandits. Don’t let them walk all over you, alright?” He ruffled the boy’s hair, making him giggle.

“Okay, I promise,” he said. “Will you be alright?”  
“I will if you’ll be.” And with that, they parted ways.

* * *

Karl took a deep breath, trying to stop the shaking as he grabbed Sapnap’s hand and pulled him along through the portal. He prayed to every deity this would go well.

As a sudden bright light nearly blinded him, he knew he had reached the place he’d been so many times before. An annoyed grumble from Sapnap let him know they both made it through.

“Well, here we are,” Karl said as Sapnap stepped beside him. They were standing in a tower, which gave a great view of the snow white castle.

“Holy shit,” Sapnap cursed under his breath. The castle was gorgeous, unlike any building he’d even seen. “What is this place?”

“You know, I’m not even completely sure myself,” Karl shrugged. “Every time I come here, I do some weird scavenger hunt for answers about myself and why my travels are affecting me the way they do. And then I just… go home, I guess?”

The duo started walking around, Sapnap adoring the building and Karl looking for the usual books. After having turned a few corners, Sapnap spoke up.

“You know, I think I believe you,” he chuckled. Karl laughed. Thank God.  
He looked to the side and saw an item frame on the floor. In it laid a book, just as usual.

“Hold on, I need to grab this,” he announced. He picked up the book and opened it, expecting the usual cryptic message about memory, or safe places, or whatever. However, when he glanced over the letters, it wasn’t what he was expecting at all.

_DON’T STRAY FROM THE PATH WHAT HAVE YOU DONE I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL YOU RUINED THE SANCTITY OF THIS PLACE NOW YOU MUST PAY_

The words repeated themselves over and over again, across 67 pages. Karl’s breath hitched as he closed the book. He tried to put it back in the item frame, but the book refused. Suddenly, the book started turning to dust in his hands and Karl dropped it in shock.

The second the crumbling book hit the floor, the bright white stone started turning black. It moved around quickly, like ink spreading through a cloth. It travelled up the walls, not only going up but also to the sides.

“What’s happening?” Sapnap asked as Karl stumbled back and looked up.  
“I- I don’t know,” he stammered. “This never happens- It’s not supposed to do this. Sap, we need to go, now!”

He didn’t wait for an answer and grabbed his fiancés hand, terrified. He started running away from the dark growth, hoping to find an exit of some sort.

But no matter how hard they ran, the growth seemed to be chasing them around. The floor started creaking with every step they took, and Karl swore he heard the wall starting to break.

“Karl, look out!” Sapnap yelled out, pointing above them. The black had spread to above their heads, and the ceiling was starting to crumble. The creaking and breaking was starting to get louder, and suddenly blocks were falling around them.

The two kept running as the building crumbled around them. The pillars were coming loose from the walls and tumbled over, blocking the hallway and preventing them from running further.

A loud rumbling was heard, and the couple looked up just in time to see the roof starting to collapse. In a quick reflex, Sapnap threw himself at Karl, quickly throwing on his netherite chestplate just in time for the rubble to fall down.

Karl ducked down, feeling the weight of his partner on him, followed by the immense pressure of the ceiling that came down. Dust started filling his lungs and he coughed loudly, feeling himself slip away. The last thing he saw was Sapnap hovering over him as his vision went black and he passed out.

* * *

Karl’s eyes fluttered open slowly. He blinked against the sunlight a few times and realised he was no longer in the In-Between, but instead laying on the grounds of the SMP. Oh thank God, he was back home.

He tried sitting up but noticed Sapnap was laying half on top of him, unconscious. His head rested on Karl’s stomach, one arm draped over him and hand twisted in Karl’s hoodie. Karl immediately started stressing. Sapnap practically took the full blow of the crumbling castle, and he didn’t look very lively.

“Sap?” he asked, shaking Sapnap’s shoulder. “Honey wake up! Sapnap!” There was no answer.  
“Sapnap!” Karl called, a bit louder now. Sapnap rolled over on the ground as Karl shook a little too hard. Sapnap let out a soft grunt.

“W-what the hell?” he mumbled, barely audible. Karl let out a relieved sigh, barely holding back tears. Sapnap pushed himself up on his elbows and glanced over the server. “Where the hell am I?”

“Sapnap!” Karl yelled out. “Oh, I’m so glad you made it! We’re home, Sap, we did it! I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I’m just so happy you’re alright?” He panted happily at all the emotion, but Sapnap just stared back at him. His brows furrowed and there was pure confusion in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” **  
**

**Author's Note:**

> A cliffhanger, I know, I'm sorry. I was watching the karaoke vod during this and it's very hard to write angsty scenes when a bunch of people are singing Mr. Brightside at the top of their lungs. 
> 
> Please let me know if you want a part two!


End file.
